Parliamentary debate in Kuwait leads to a fistfight

In the parliament, Kuwait City on May 18, 2011, Shiite and Sunni MPs fight during a heated debate over inmates held in the U.S. at the Guantanamo detention center amid rising sectarian tension in the Gulf state.

Yasser al-Zayyat / AFP - Getty Images

Kuwaiti Shiite and Sunni MPs fight during a heated debate over inmates at Guantanamo detention center in the parliament, Kuwait City on May 18, 2011 amid rising sectarian tension in the Gulf state.

Yasser al-Zayyat / AFP - Getty Images

Kuwaiti security try to stop a fight between Shiite and Sunni MPs that erupted during a heated debate over inmates at Guantanamo detention center in the parliament, Kuwait City on May 18, 2011 amid rising sectarian tension in the Gulf state.

Agence France Presse reports:

The parliament was holding a debate over two Kuwaiti detainees in the US prison camp in Cuba when Shiite MP Hussein al-Kallaf provoked some Sunni fellow MPs by dismissing the prisoners as "Al-Qaeda" militants.

Chaos erupted when Jamaan al-Harish representing the Muslim Brotherhood replied to Kallaf saying that the session was not called to discuss Al-Qaeda but Guantanamo prisoners.

Two Shiite and four Sunni lawmakers were involved in the fight prompting MP Abdullah al-Rumi to adjourn the session.